Category: Uncategorized
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A Detour to the Southbank and on to Spice heaven in Southall
From Little Venice’s watery world we’re disloyal to the Elizabeth Line and shoot along to the Embankment on the Bakerloo’s old rattle and shake. It’s that time of winter evening, too late for museums, too early for libations of the alcoholic kind, so it’s non-negotiable, the buzz of the Southbank is the place to be,…
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Mayfair Meanders and on to Little Venice
Off we trot from the Elizabeth Line’s Bond Street station through Mayfair to the Halcyon Gallery on New Bond Street. I must admit that the easy-going attitude of the Whitechapel Gallery is more my style. Halcyon’s walkie-talkie clad, black suited doormen are perfectly well-mannered, but the formality makes me feel like an intruder. It’s worth…
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Canary Wharf’s Sci-fi Skyline to Mayfair’s Church of Food
The Elizabeth line’s Canary Wharf is our destination, with its sci-fi obelisks, very 2001. Soon we’re walking in the cross-rail roof garden where glass and steel meet giant palms, fatsia japonica, spices, cocoa, banana and coffee bean trees. The roof garden sits on the Meridian between the west and east hemispheres and features plants from…
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Rambling from Liverpool Street to Farringdon
As we walk from Spitalfields to Farringdon we stumble across a reggae band playing at Bishopsgate, then as if that’s not fun enough there’s the Illumino – City’s installation with its magical flowers. Children run between them to press buttons which play a tune reminiscent of an experimental jazz band. As we pass Liverpool Street…
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A Three-day Jaunt Tracing London’s Iconic Elizabeth Line – Whitechapel and Spitalfields
As my chauffeur eases the van between the over-hanging trees down the hill to Abbey Wood campsite, our excitement fizzes like Champagne in a flute. As two Londoners and now happy West Sussex denizens we still get that Champagne fizz when we return as tourists to the city of our birth. No sooner have we…
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From Veliko Tarnovo’s Historical Sights to the Rural Peace of Dimcha – The end of our Personal Pilgrimage
One ticket to Veliko Tarnovo’s historical sites lasts for two days. We spend a good portion of that time wandering round in circles searching for them. The Museum of the Bulgarian Revival is a gloriously colourful blue and white building. It is where the Bulgarian Constitution was negotiated by a multitude of representatives at the…
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Bulgaria’s Veliko Tarnovo – Tsaravets Fortress and Dramatic Gorges
We arrive at the attractive Tarnovgrad Apartments, complete with gym, right in the middle of Veliko Tarnovo’s old town, round the corner from the Bey House, where the Turkish administrator lived. Redbrick, low-slung, surrounding a lush courtyard garden, it lends a little bit of Turkey to the town. The apartments sit just below the stunning…
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A Personal Pilgrimage to Bulgaria Offers up Sofia with its Long and Vivid History
It seems strange writing about our trip to Bulgaria, considering the reason we’re here is to commemorate Seán’s sister, Jackie, who retired with her husband to her dream home in the small village of Dimcha, only to die shortly after. We first visited in a shocked haze last year but this year we’re back to…
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A Rollercoaster Road from Lake Maggiore’s Locarno, across the Swiss Border to Italian Val Antigorio – A stupendous stop-off on our last night in Italy
We border hop to our last stop in Italy, starting at Lake Lugano in Italy and crossing to Switzerland half-way round it. I thank the universe for SatNav as it guides us through Switzerland’s Locarno, onto the tiny mountain road to the border at Camedo so that we can return again to Italy at Re.…
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Limpid Lakes – Lago di Como, Piano and Lugano
As we hit the shores of Lake Como the mountains tower up on each side. It’s easy to see how it’s the deepest of the major Italian lakes. It is magical with its lemon sherbet and terracotta houses, iron-work balconies, enormous oleanders and vine-shaded terraces. Some villages are haunting with their air of gracious crumbling.…
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